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Quick Facts
- NAME: Oscar Wilde
- OCCUPATION: Writer
- BIRTH DATE: October 16, 1854
- DEATH DATE: November 30, 1900
- EDUCATION: Portora Royal School, Trinity College, Magdalen College
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Dublin, Ireland
- PLACE OF DEATH: Paris, France
- Full Name: Oscar Wilde
- Full Name: Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde
Best Known For
Author Oscar Wilde published several acclaimed works, including The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest.
Videos see all videos
Oscar Wilde - How to Tell a Story
Oscar Wilde's father was Ireland's leading eye surgeon and was knighted in 1864.
Oscar Wilde - A Place in History
Oscar Wilde died at age 46 on November 30, 1900 from meningitis.
Oscar Wilde - An Extravagant Life
Although he was married to Constance Lloyd, Wilde spent nights in a hotel with Lord Alfred Douglas. It was his most prolific writing period.
Oscar Wilde - Leading a Double Life
Oscar Wilde sued the Marquis de Queensburg for libel, lost, and wound up in jail for gross indecency because of his homosexuality.
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Play NowOscar Wilde. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 03:24, May 24, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/oscar-wilde-9531078.
Oscar Wilde. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/oscar-wilde-9531078 [Accessed 24 May 2013].
"Oscar Wilde." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 24 2013, 03:24 http://www.biography.com/people/oscar-wilde-9531078.
"Oscar Wilde," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/oscar-wilde-9531078 [accessed May 24, 2013].
"Oscar Wilde," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/oscar-wilde-9531078 (accessed May 24, 2013).
Oscar Wilde [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 24] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/oscar-wilde-9531078.
Oscar Wilde, http://www.biography.com/people/oscar-wilde-9531078 (last visited May 24, 2013).
Oscar Wilde. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/oscar-wilde-9531078. Accessed May 24, 2013.
Wilde emerged from prison in 1897, physically depleted, emotionally exhausted and flat broke. He went into exile in France, where, living in cheap hotels and friends' apartments, he briefly reunited with Douglas. Wilde wrote very little during these last years; his only notable work was a poem he completed in 1898 about his experiences in prison, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol."
Death and Legacy
Wilde died of meningitis on November 30, 1900 at the age of 46.
More than a century after his death, Wilde is still better remembered for his personal life—his exuberant personality, consummate wit and infamous imprisonment for homosexuality—than for his literary accomplishments. Nevertheless, his witty, imaginative and undeniably beautiful works, in particular his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and his play The Importance of Being Earnest, are considered among the great literary masterpieces of the late Victorian period.
Throughout his entire life, Wilde remained deeply committed to the principles of aestheticism, principles that he expounded through his lectures and demonstrated through his works as well as anyone of his era. "All art is at once surface and symbol," Wilde wrote in the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray. "Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex and vital."
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